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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808730">Bats, Cats and co-parenting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntoldDepths/pseuds/UntoldDepths'>UntoldDepths</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Good Parent Janet Drake, Marriage of Convenience, Not!Fic, aro!Bruce Wayne, aroace!Jack Drake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:28:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntoldDepths/pseuds/UntoldDepths</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A not!fic about the possible AU relationship between Bruce, Selina and Janet.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle/Janet Drake, Janet Drake/Selina Kyle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bats, Cats and co-parenting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks, Bumpkin, for helping me with this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Featuring demi-aro Bruce and marriage for convenience Jack/Janet</p>
<p>Endgame Bruce/Selina/Janet co-parenting their other relationship brood of children.<br/></p>
<hr/><p><br/>Janet and Selina had a fling in college. They really liked each other, but they couldn’t be together publicly due to social mores. Their friend, Jack Drake, was more interested in his future as an archeologist than in girls. So much so that his idea of a good date was rewatching Indiana Jones, The Mummy or sometimes Crocodile Dundee for flavour. Watching means “watching, don’t climb on my lap you’re blocking the view.”</p>
<p>Both Jack and Janet were under pressure from their upper class families to settle down and get married. Jack also had Drake industries waiting for him. So Jack, an Archeology major, Business minor, asked Janet Wilson, Master of Business, Workplace Law major, Human Relations minor, to marry him. For tax purposes.</p>
<p>They get married. Janet takes over the day to day running of Drake Industries, turning it into one of the biggest companies in its industry and with the highest employee satisfaction. They go to multiple appointments at the family clinic. Tim is born. And the Jack, as originally planned, goes off on a dig safe in the knowledge his father is satisfied he’s done his familial duty.</p>
<p>Back home in Gotham, Selina hangs around. She lives with Janet and Tim, doing the Catwoman thing by night and carrying Tim around to the odd function during the day. Nobody actually knows what’s up with Selina Kyle. She seems to be the live in Nanny to the Drake kid. But she’s also independently wealthy and funds about 80% of Gotham’s animal shelters, including a couple kill shelters, and half the vets.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne returns from his mysterious trip and immediately starts making a name for himself.</p>
<p>As a ditz and a playboy.</p>
<p>There are, of course, many articles about his exploits and about his injuries. On his travels, Bruce Wayne seems to have discovered a love for extreme sports that he’s not very good at. None of his relationships seem to last. The magazines have theories. Commitment issues, difficulty getting it up, extreme masochistic tendencies. </p>
<p>In truth, Bruce would probably identify as demiromantic if he knew it was a thing. He likes playing the game, but when things start getting more serious his interest wanes. He’s hoping The One will come along and everything will click into place. He’s also Batman, the urban myth that has cropped up among the criminals and gangsters recently.</p>
<p>Janet is a driven and successful CEO at Drake Industries. She goes to work where her employees are equal parts in awe of her and terrified to disappoint her. Her business rivals are just straight up terrified of her. And the student botanist she hired as a conservation consultant, Pamela Isley, wants to one day be as charismatic as her.</p>
<p>She goes home and tries to put it away for her son and her girlfriend, but she was not raised on affection and it is not her game. That’s ok, they know she loves them, even if she struggles to show it sometimes and regularly defaults to buying them things.</p>
<p>Selina has a lot of love to give. She loves her girlfriend, she loves her girlfriend’s son and she loves her hoard of cats. She loves them all strongly, fiercely, and uncontained. It’s too much love even for normal people, but it’s stifling when it’s Janet.</p>
<p>They fought about it once, back when Jack asked for Janet’s hand. How Selina already felt underappreciated by Janet, before going and getting a family and a business. But they already knew this about each other, whispered insecurities in the dead of the night. So they talked it out and came to a solution.</p>
<p>So Selina goes out and she flirts with people. Sometimes she’ll date them for a while, sometimes she won’t. But she always returns to Janet and Tim and they remind her why she loves them most of all.</p>
<p>The game she plays with Bruce Wayne, the game Catwoman plays with Batman, lasts the longest for either of them. They flirt when they see each other, they might go on the infrequent date, and then they don’t talk to each other for a while.</p>
<p>Nothing ever comes of it, so they both remain interested and ready to play the next round.<br/></p>
<hr/><p><br/>When Tim is three, his father returns from a dig. It was a long and fascinating dig, so it’s actually Tim’s second time meeting his father, not counting the day he was born. It’s only a short trip. Jack’s return to America is for an Uncle’s wedding, after which he will return to the desert. He takes Janet and Tim to the wedding, to keep his family happy. And he takes Janet and Tim to the circus, for fun and for the media’s perceptions.</p>
<p>Unfortunately it all goes wrong when the Flying Graysons fall, orphaning their son.</p>
<p>Tim spends the first night in his Moms’ bed. Mom holds him tight to her while he tells Myam what happened and can’t they please help Dick, the acrobat who hugged him like he imagines an older brother would and who Gotham CPP won’t let go home with the circus?</p>
<p>(he’s allowed to call Janet ‘Mom’ at home, but he has to remember to call her ‘Mother’ in public. He calls Selina Myam, to make it less confusing and because she’s his Cat-mom.)</p>
<p>(Jack pushes his departure back a week to help out, but ultimately he doesn’t know what to do with a traumatised toddler and he has to get back to the dig site.)</p>
<p>Selina promises to do what she can for Dick, but by the time she manages to track him down, Batman’s already gotten to him. A shame, because acrobats make great thieves and Tim could have used an older brother. But probably a good thing, with the rumors about Zucco. Batman can keep the kid safe, and Bruce Wayne understands what he’s going through.</p>
<p>She’s not so sure about the Robin thing, but at least she can see he’s ok with her own eyes.<br/>Jack, Janet and Timothy Drake officially live in Drake Mansion in Bristol. Their closest neighbours are the occupants of Wayne Manor. Selina officially lives in a Penthouse Apartment on the edge of the diamond district. In actual fact, Selina and her cats live in the mansion in Bristol. They keep the penthouse for late nights and early mornings, when making the commute isn’t practical.</p>
<p>Bristol is better for Tim and the cats, being out of the smog and with big open spaces. It’s not so good for working women.</p>
<p>Janet is enjoying a weekend in Bristol with a newly four year old Tim when she has to take a sudden emergency trip to Washington. She packs Tim’s bags, helps him check the cats’ automatic feeders and takes him next door to Mr Alfred Pennyworth.</p>
<p>“Master Bruce is not home at this time, he had to take a trip overseas” Mr Pennyworth tries to tell them. Dick pokes his head around the door and lights up at the sight of Tim. He has a copy of the photo they took that day at the circus and a cat eared headband. Tim and Selina sent him both after Bruce was granted custody.</p>
<p>“Sorry to ask you of this, Mr Pennyworth, but can you look after Timothy for a few days? I am needed out of town suddenly and there’s no one else I can trust. I don;t know how long I will be, but Selina should be back by Wednesday.”</p>
<p>Batman is chasing Catwoman all over the french countryside.</p>
<p>Alfred hems and haws, but Dick wheedles, begs and promises to keep young Timothy out of trouble. Alfred eventually agrees, stating that it will keep Dick off the chandeliers, at least. The glare he gives indicates that wasn’t an observation but a command.</p>
<p>Janet thanks them and then goes back home to pack her own bags and book the first flight out.</p>
<p>When Selina arrives to pick Tim up, he and Dick are thick as thieves. Selina’s arrival finds them with Dick spotting Tim on a low tightrope. She’s impressed. She only just managed to teach Tim how to walk a beam before she left.<br/></p>
<hr/><p><br/>Dick teaches Tim a little bit of tumbling during their semi-frequent playdates, so Selina signs him up for a baby class. When Tim tells Dick all about it, he gets interested and asks all sorts of questions. Dick’s too advanced for the classes in his age group, but he does walk to the gym after school to catch the end of Tim’s class. Selina gives him a ride home, saving Alfred the trip.</p>
<p>The two boys are so close, the only time they go without seeing each other for a couple days is when Jack is around. And later when Dick starts hanging around other kid heroes.</p>
<p>Tim grows into a bright and precocious 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 year old. Jack comes around every year and takes Tim on week long camping trips, teaching him all about the outdoors. One year he even sets chicken bones in clay and plaster, for Tim to dig up and reconstruct. Another he brings Tim a camera and they go bird watching from a cliff.</p>
<p>Selina and Janet get close to Alfred, and then to Bruce. Bruce and Selina continue to flirt, fall into bed with each other a time or two and then go their own ways. Selina and Janet sometimes look after Dick, taking him out or picking him up from school. </p>
<p>Group outings become normal. Janet, Selina and Tim, Bruce and Dick, going to events or picnics as a group. Getting closer and closer until eventually they’re co-parenting their kids. Bruce helps Tim with things he doesn’t feel comfortable bringing up with his Moms. Selina and Janet help Dick when he decides he wants to cut someone with the power of eyeliner and stilettos.</p>
<p>The first time Janet, Selina and Bruce all fall into bed together is an accident. They go their separate ways and don’t talk about it.<br/></p>
<hr/><p><br/>When Tim is 9, he sees something he shouldn’t on the news. When Janet checks on him that night, one of the nights spent in the penthouse, he isn’t in his room. Concerned, she calls Selina. Selina manages to track him and his camera down in Old Gotham. She doesn’t bust him, just watches. Makes sure he doesn’t get mugged.</p>
<p>Tim sneaks out every night for an entire week, thinking he got away with it. He develops the photos he took and forgets that his moms can look at them hanging up to dry.</p>
<p>He only managed to catch a scrap of cape, but it’s enough for his moms to figure out what he’s up to and freak out. He confesses that he figured out who Batman and Robin are and refuses to give up his new hobby.</p>
<p>Janet isn’t pleased, but she eventually agrees to let Tim out to take photos, under Selina’s supervision and only when she says he can. Tim agrees, is taught how to defend himself just in case, and allowed out to terrorise the rooftops of Gotham. He even gets photos of Catwoman flirting with Batman. Not that he needs her to do that, once he manages to start getting photos of the vigilantes on his own merit.<br/>Jason becomes a member of their two families, and he and Tim get on like a house on fire. Dick has some issues at first, but Tim steps in and he makes his peace. Batman had picked him up stealing the batmobile’s tyres and taken him home. They, all seven, go out for a dinner celebration the day of Jason’s adoption.</p>
<p>It is the second time Bruce, Selina and Janet share a bed.</p>
<p>Dick offers Jason Robin, much to Bruce’s despair. In a final attempt to not drag another kid into his crusade, Janet specifies that Jason must wear the short shorts. Jason doesn’t like the condition, but he agrees.</p>
<p>Jason goes to Selina first when he finds out about his birth mom. She agrees to help him find her, but she also helps him see straight. His birth mom left him, but Catherine loved him. Family’s not about blood, and Jason sees that what he’s got is already really good. So he doesn’t go to Ethiopia.</p>
<p>However, he does intend to go to college, so he’s got to study. Plus the shorts are starting to chafe. He cuts back on Robin hours, leaving Batman out there all alone.</p>
<p>Eventually, Batman gets in over his head. A bad night when it seems like everyone is on the street, and Batman can’t be everywhere. Bruce limps down for lunch with several broken ribs to find Selina, Janet and Tim at his dining room table. They have a map out and are tracking criminal activity.</p>
<p>Tim argues that Batman needs a Robin and offers himself up. Bruce is not pleased. Janet is even less pleased. Tim gets his way and is put through the most rigorous training of his life. He does not break.</p>
<p>Janet declares that if they must carry on with their recklessness, she’s not going to sit back and wait for them to come home injured. She optimises their routes and sets up spreadsheets. Between her and Tim, they almost manage to know where the criminals are going to hit ahead of time.</p>
<p>It’s about then that nights with the three of them become a regular thing. They never call it a relationship and it’s never exclusive. Though Selina stops seeing people outside of their family, limiting herself to flirting with her marks and little else.<br/></p>
<hr/><p><br/>Things aren’t perfect. They have their ups and downs and arguments. No Man’s Land sparks the worst of them, but they have a few good years. Cass enters their family and thrives.</p>
<p>Then Damian arrives.</p>
<p>The first time Damian tries to kill Janet, a perceived replacement for Talia in his father’s life, he almost gets sent straight back to the league.</p>
<p>The first time Damian tries to kill Tim, Janet lectures him blue. She tears him down to size using only her words. He, like so many others, admires and fears her in equal parts.<br/>The time Talia and Janet meet is terrible for everyone sane. They start off fighting. At the end of the day they seem to be the best of friends. It is no doubt to anyone who knows the two of them, that if they tried they could take over the world.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Janet seems content to rule over the small parts of the world she already has in her grasp.</p>
<p>Though the way Talia holds herself, those mornings she spends at Drake Mansion… One has to wonder if the world Janet rules over includes Talia.  She always seems a little stiff, and she only wears the softest and loosest clothes. Selina always spends those nights out as Catwoman, but in the mornings, she and Janet both look like the cat that got the cream.<br/>They can’t know what the future will bring, but they’ll get through it. They do know they’ll support each other through whatever might come, no matter what.</p>
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